On Friday, November 13 at 2:00 pm, The Honourable H. Frank Lewis and Her Honour Dorothy Lewis will host an event to celebrate the completion of the Friends of the Gatehouse Co-operative 2014 Legacy Project. Their Honours are enthusiastic about the results of this important project and welcome the publication of the complimentary resource documents that will be available free online.

"Reg Porter and Dr. Richard Campanaro have done Prince Edward Island a great service," says Lieutenant Governor Frank Lewis. "Their new publications will be valuable not only to vice-regal residents, Government House staff and tour guides but also to future visitors, researchers, historians and students. Dorothy and I are very pleased that this 2014 Legacy Project has come to a productive, successful conclusion."

Government House and the Fanningbank Estate: A Guidebook, by Reg Porter, traces development of the landscape and gardens, the architectural design and construction of Government House and the decoration and furnishing of its interior, placing these events and objects in a historic context.

Dr. Richard Campanaro prepared Government House Research Manual Volume I: Historic Images 1839-1967, an annotated compilation of all known images of the house to date, and Government House Research Manual Volume II: Historical Documents: 1825 to 2008. Among the rich collection of documents are early House of Assembly public account records relating to the development of Government House from its earliest days of construction and furnishing to expenses incurred to host the 1860 visit of the His Royal Highness The Prince Edward Prince of Wales at Fanningbank, the first Royal visit to the province.

Monique Lafontaine, chair of the Government House Committee, notes the importance of the PEI 2014 Fund to Government House into the future. "These new documents would not have been produced without the PEI 2014 Fund, said Ms. Lafontaine, "The legacy project funding also allowed the committee to reproduce costumes from 1864 that Their Honours wore throughout the year at various 2014 festivities and events. These historically accurate costumes were designed and made by Arnold Smith and added much to the atmosphere of Government House during an historic year."

This 2014 commemorative project also featured a lecture series focusing on Fanningbank presented from August to October 2014. Launched with a garden tour conducted by former Government House Garden Committee member and noted Landscape Designer, Jean Riordon, subsequent talks were, The Evolution and Use of the Grounds of Fanningbank Estate, The Interior of Government House and The Exterior of Government House, both presented by Reg Porter, and concluded with, The Backroom Boys: The Queen's Representatives and Confederation, given by historian, Dr. Edward MacDonald.

All components of this project were completed under the guidelines of the PEI 2014 Fund funding agreement. The financial support received from the funding agency was supplemented by revenues from the lecture series, the sale of commemorative coins designed by the working committee and donations from generous individuals.

The Government House Committee is a sub-committee of the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation. Electronic copies of these documents are available online at: peimuseum.ca/index.php3?number=1045482&lang=E and www.gov.pe.ca/olg/index.php?number=1022335&lang=E